CerealWatch - December 2014

Final cereal analysis results for 2014 now available

Final results for CerealWatch 2014 indicate good wheat and barley quality, with good bushel weights, high starch contents and acceptable protein content. As more samples have been submitted and analysed, evidence has been confirmed of regional variation.

For poultry, wheat gave an average predicted poultry AMEn value of 12.40 MJ/Kg, and barley gave an average predicted adult AMEn value of 11.97 MJ/Kg. These results are very similar to last month's report, indicating grain quality has been sustained. Protein content of wheat clearly varies by region and this needs to be accommodated in feed formulation. In areas where feed wheat proteins are low, the amino acid content of the wheat needs to adjusted in the feed formulation matrix and this will potentially increase feed cost.

For pigs, the wheat samples gave an average predicted NE value of 9.70 MJ/Kg and the barley an average of 9.33 MJ NE/Kg.

For ruminants, the wheat samples gave an average predicted ME value of 11.69 MJ/Kg and the barley samples gave an average predicted ME value of 11.17 MJ/Kg.